Arago: 30-cent Jefferson

The engraver of an incredible range of vignette types, Liverpool-born artist Alfred Jones (1819-1900) created the image of Thomas Jefferson that appears on the 30-cent stamp of the 1890-1893 Issue and the 4-cent Lincoln of the same issue. Jones moved beyond portraits and into full scenes during his time at American Bank Note Company. For examples of that work, see his 2-cent and 30-cent Columbian Exposition Issues of 1893.

The 30-cent Jefferson of the 1890 American Bank Note Company Issue added one more denomination to the list of ‘Jefferson’ stamps in the Classic Period. This would be the last 30-cent stamp of the Classic Period and the last 30-cent denomination on a United States stamp until 1914. It typically paid large domestic rates or, in frequent combination with other denominations, foreign destination rates. American Bank Note Company printed approximately 1,735,018 stamps of the 30-cent Jefferson.